- The Executive Committee of the LSA will be holding its Spring meeting on 9-10 May, 2008, in Washington, DC. For further information, contact Katha Kissman.
- Nominations for the Leonard Bloomfield Book Award are due 1 June, 2008.
- Nominations for the LSA's "Linguistics, Language and the Public" Award will be accepted until 1 June, 2008.
return to Advisory Committees list
The Status of Women in Linguistics (COSWL)
Background
Established in 1974.
Mission
To monitor and advance the status of women in Linguistics.
Responsibilities
The work of the Committee includes, but is not limited to, the following:
1. Monitors and advances the status of women in linguistics.
2. Proposes to the Executive Committee LSA policies regarding the rights, opportunities, and needs of women in linguistics.
3. Maintains liaison with other organizations concerned with the status of women in linguistics and investigates possibilities for cooperating with such groups on specific projects.
4. Gathers and makes available information on procedures available to members to pursue grievances involving discrimination or harassment.
5. Monitors the effectiveness of the Society's guidelines for nonsexist usage, proposing revisions or additions to the Executive Committee as deemed appropriate.
6. Encourages research on women and language.
Selected Projects and Activities
Every year, a number of projects are undertaken by committee members in association with task forces made up of
volunteers from the LSA general membership who have indicated their interest in the goals of COSWL. Projects must fall
within the LSA mandate to COSWL, but also depend on the interests and skills of the current membership and available task
force members. COSWL regularly publishes notices of its current activities in the LSA bulletin, and welcomes volunteers for
existing task forces, as well as proposals for new projects.
Past and on-going projects include:
- Ongoing collection and analysis of data from institutions regarding status of
women in linguistics departments/programs. A web-based survey of chairs and directors was initiated in 2007.
Survey results 1976-2008
[pdf] - Sponsor Women in Linguistics Mentoring Alliance (WILMA), an on-line mentoring program which matches women in Linguistics with more experienced counterparts at different institutions and encourages long-term mentoring relationships.
- Compiled and published The COSWL Collection of Language and Gender Syllabi. [pdf of original] [update]
- Click here to see list of Survival Skills Workshops sponsored at LSA Summer Institutes.
- Click here to see the list of LSA Meeting Colloquia.
- Symposium: Liminal Linguists: Women in Nontraditional Professional Positions
- Workshop: Becoming a Professional Linguist: Strategies for Survival and Success
- Compiled and published The Cornell Lectures: Women in the Linguistics Profession. [pdf]
- In April 1993 the Executive Committee of the LSA approved COSWL's request to include "Language and Gender" as a category for the submission of abstracts to the LSA Annual Meeting, effective 1994.
- COSWL has consistently worked with the Executive Committee to improve the "LSA Guidelines for Nonsexist Usage." Click here to see the current guidelines, and click here to see a list of COSWL's activities on this topic.
COSWL Volunteer Activities
In order to extend participation in COSWL and to share the workload on large projects, we welcome volunteers to join an existing task force or propose a new project or task force. If you are interested, please contact the task force members listed below, or one of the other committee members.
WILMA
The Women in Linguistics Mentoring Alliance (WILMA) is now open as an internet service at http://ling.wisc.edu/wilma. Individual and group mentoring opportunities are available.Institutional Surveys
COSWL has an ongoing survey project, designed to monitor the status of women in linguistics, and identify potential obstacles to advancement. If you have ideas for specific types of data you'd like to see collected, or if you would be willing to help with the administration of the survey, please contact the Chair(s) of COSWL.Becoming a COSWL Member
While committee members are appointed by the LSA executive committee, we are always looking for people who are interested in serving. Contact the current chair(s) for more information (see "members" page for addresses).
Links
Language and Gender Syllabus Collection
LSA Guidelines for Nonsexist Usage
LSA Sexual Harassment Policy
Other links
Membership
At least 9 members serving three-year staggered terms. Re-appointment is allowed, although in the usual case only after a break in service.
Committee Members (all terms run through the end of the year in parentheses)
Kathryn Remlinger, Chair, Grand Valley State University (2009)
George Aaron Broadwell, SUNY Albany (2010)
Janet Fuller, Southern Illinois University (2010)
Geraldine Legendre, Johns Hopkins University (2008)
Jennifer Michaels (student member), MIT (2008)
Emily Nava (student member), University of Southern California (2009)
Judith Parker, University of Mary Washington (2010)
Gina Taranto, H5 (2009)
Karen Zagona, Rice University (2008)
Previous Members
Click here to see a list of previous COSWL members.
